App Savvy Has You Guiding A Sleepwalking Chicken Home In Chicken Coop

In this game, you play as Carl, a chicken that sleepwalks. His problem just keeps getting worse, and so he finds himself unable to recall where he is, all while he’s half asleep.

This is where you come in – you must guide Carl back to the coop, all while eating his feed and avoiding other animals along the way. As you go through each level, he will be farther and farther away from the coop, so you’ll have to navigate him around carefully.

Chicken Coop is a top-down puzzle platformer that introduces dual analog controls on iOS. To control Carl on each level, you will have both thumbs on the screen, and swipe simultaneously to move your chicken around. Carl won’t be able to get on high places, like fences and buildings, unless he goes on top of something else to get up there (like bushes and ramps). You can tell when Carl is on a higher platform because he will appear bigger (if he is smaller, he’s on ground level). In later levels, you can do other tricks, like flicking him across gaps, in order to get him where he needs to be.

While the controls work to get Carl across the screen in a hurry, sometimes it can be a bit tricky, especially when you want Carl to make it across a small wooden plank in between two stacks of hay without falling into the hungry ducks below. Making Carl move slowly and carefully is a bit sensitive, since you will have to move one of your thumbs slowly in a vertical position, while making sure that you can see Carl on the screen. It may take some time, but patience is a virtue, especially in this game.

Each level will have hidden piles of feed for Carl to eat. To collect them, you just have to move Carl over them. While collecting all of these will give you a gold trophy (collecting less will give you a silver trophy), you can actually complete a level without getting any feed. Of course, there’s a bonus if you get the gold though: an extra heart to your life meter, shown in the top left corner.

If you want to have a basic idea of where to go, Chicken Coop has a map of the level that you can access from the pause menu (the compass icon). You can pan across the entire map, and see where the coop is as well as all the hidden stacks of feed. To return to the game, just tap on the map.

As you get through levels, the introduction of wandering enemies will occur. Be careful to avoid them! Taking a hit from them will lose a heart from your health meter – so if you’re out of hearts, then it’s game over for Carl the chicken. You can get an extra heart for every six gold trophies obtained.

There are three worlds with 20 levels in each, making for a total of 60 levels currently. The game provides plenty of challenge, and the controls are pretty unique for a top-down puzzle platformer game (though a bit tricky for some parts).

The only thing that is missing is Game Center integration. I think with a game like this, there should be a handful of challenging achievements to get. Perhaps in the future, Game Center can be integrated.

Those who are looking for a fun new pick-up-and-play game will want to check out Chicken Coop. The controls are fun, the music is catchy, and the graphics are cute. Hopefully the developers will continue to update a game like this with more levels and content in the future.